Grey days green days

I think we all have had our own grey days. I called it this way because there are days when things are just…not just blue but grey. That is when you think you have done good things but don’t seem good enough for others. For example, have you ever experience the moment when you try to cook some meals, with all the good intention that you sincerely have- considering you are no chef, but it just doen’t seem good enough. Instead of getting a thank you for that, the meals are said to be tasteless- don’t match – don’t bring up appetite. Not to mention that those words are said to the crowd. (Oh dear.)..Of course one would feel down and disappointed.  Well, it was just one illustration.

There are plenty more of grey days… When your friend borrowed money from you but your dear friend suddenly disappered (Oh NO…).

Or the fact that nobody wants to do the dirty job so you volunteer yourself (without being paid) but all the sudden everyone complains to you and hesitates to coorperate.

Or you are a mother who struggle to bring the best of your kids, specially through the bad times; but all the sudden one of your kid hold grunches against you and refuse to be part of the family anymore. (Ouh oh).

and so on and so on. Grey days, I’d say.

I must admit that it takes time, effort, and the willingness to let go, to wipe out the grey days from me. Hm…Sometimes we tend to remember the grey days of our lives. I hope it doesn’t take too long for you (and for me) to move on. To get on to the other side of our lives, turning to the other color, like green.

Yeah, I’m sure you also have some days that surprise you, refresh you. You might say you are lucky to have that. I called it green days. For example the day when my husband surprised that I pay small amount of money at the cashier. I said, ‘I got some voucher from the bank’. Or I finally got the shoes I needed with a very good price. And more, grab car gave me free ride without my notice. Then, the young-coconut fruit-drink that I love is just two block away. Yippi…

You should notice the way I write my green days. They are shorter but plenty example that I can mention to you. I’m sure that you can also mention your green days in no time. You see, green days are small things, happy things that we often taken for granted.

In this wonderful opportunity, I’d say thank you for today and for God’s blessing upon me. Cheers to that.

Hand in hand to make it green

If a kid can do it, so can parents. Come on…. (It is my voice trying to encourage myself).

2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,200 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 20 trips to carry that many people.The busiest day of the year was October 23rd with 47 views. The most popular post that day was Trade Expo Indonesia 2015.

That’s 28 countries in all!
Most visitors came from Indonesia. The United States & European Union were not far behind.

 

Thanks to WP….

70 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka

70 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka

Banyak cara merayakan hari kemerdekaan Republik Indonesia. Dengan mengikuti lomba,acara atau upacara bendera, hiburan di TV atau di panggung kampung.

Aku juga turut senang nih kalau ada pusat perbelanjaan yang membuat dekor HUT RI dengan penuh semangat,seperti yang kulihat di salah satu mall di Kuningan.

Di ultah yang ke-70, Banyak pertumbuhannya, ada kemajuan yang terjadi; tapi tak sedikit stagnansi di sana sini.
Masih banyak pe – er yang ditunda-tunda untuk dikerjakan. Padahal di luar sana, negara-negara bersaing untuk menjadi yang terbaik. Hayuk, kita selalu waspada. Jangan lengah oleh puji-pujian. Begitu kita merasa puas , kita bisa malas untuk melangkah maju lagi.

Aku berterima kasih pada para atlet, ilmuwan dan profesional, juga semua orang Indonesia yang berprestasi, berlaku baik dan menjaga nama ibu pertiwi.

Si Kembar Lahir

Si Kembar lahir.

Aih kalau ada seorang bayi lahir.Kalau dua bayi lahir pastinya aih aih…Ini lho perkenalkan Banyu dan Air. Lucu ya… Mereka lahir dengan operasi. Berat badannya mungil 2 kg dan 2.2kg. Untuk itu mereka harus rajin-rajin diberi susu agar berat badan meningkat.

Kalau sudah begini tentu ibundanya yang ngos-ngosan. Apalagi harus mengerjakan semuanya sendiri tanpa pembantu.

Minumnya air susu ibu ditambah minuman susu bayi baru lahir.

Melahirkan bayi kembar membuat orang tua selain double repot juga menjadi lebih teliti bagaimana membedakan keduanya.
Kalau dirasa belum tampak perbedan yang nyata,memang tips membedakan baju berdasarkan warna menjadi pilihan utama.

Mmm…ets tunggu dulu.Mana yang Banyu…dan mana yang air ya?…Aih bingungnya aku.

Sayombara Srikandi

Tengah malam ini entah mengapa remote tv berhenti di channel tvri.

Ada wayang orang.Saya jadi teringat masa kecilku di Solo.Ketika ibuku mengajak nonton wayang orang. Ketika aku terpilih pentas tari di solo.ketika aku dan sepupuku Leni membawakan tari pembuka untuk acara pernikahan. Disitulah awal mula aku menghayati seni tari.

Sebenarnya saat aku menari biasanya aku larut dalam tarian dan tidak terlalu peduli terhadap penonton.

Kembali ke kisah wayang wong kali ini berkisah tentang Srikandi yang membuat sayombara. Wah kenapa serajin itu dia buat aduan dengan dirinya? Ah ternyata walaupun Srikandi itu galak dan tegas, ternyata banyak yang naksir dia.

Dikisahkan dalam sayombara itu ada yang dapat mengalahkannya.Tetap saja Gunung Sewu tidak terima dan terjadi pertarungan. Ah..sebenarnya aku cerita hanya sekilas saja.Tapi dari dulu aku suka tokoh Srikandi ini.

Look at my hand

All of us love to do something (wheater it is playing or working). By the end of the day, we need to check out our hands to see if any of the dirt remain there. It would be lovely and healthy to clean the hands with water and soap.

Everyday is a new day. A time for us to look at our own hands. Have they been working well? Are they dirty or just tired? Whatever happen to the hands… Let’s clean them, fold them together, and have some pray with the rest of the world.

KITES/ Layang layang

Suka layangan? Mau tahu latar belakang layangan, atau cara membuat beragam layangan? Ada buku baru: The Magnificent Book of Kites karya Maxwell Eden, by Sterling Publishing New York, bukunya tebal 464 halaman cuma seharga US 14.95 atau Rp 135.000,- rupiah saja… Ada sejarah layangan, sampai berbagai teknik pembuatan berbagai layangan dikupas disini. silakan pesan disini, buku terbatas. Hayo, buruan.. saatnya bermain layangan saat liburan… 🙂

Kites/ layang-layang

Jakarta, Surga Belanja

Kalau kamu hobi belanja atau sekedar window shopping, Jakarta adalah surganya. Apalagi di akhir tahun seperti sekarang ini. Wuih, sepertinya seru banget liat-liat plang brand-brand terkenal bertuliskan SALE.

Bahkan beberapa waktu lalu, Dalton Tanonaka dalam program MetroTV, “Indonesia Now”  di penghujung obrolannya menjelaskan panjang lebar keherannya melihat banyak orang Indonesia justru belanja jauh-jauh ke negeri tetangga. Karena baru saja ia ke Orchard Road untuk urusan bisnis dan melihat harga sebuah brand ternama mahalnya 3 kali lipat daripada di Senayan. Wah wah wah…Langsung saja, ia memilih untuk belanja di Jakarta, dan selisih harganya ia gunakan untuk makan-makan sepuasnya…   🙂  Hmmm…  pilihan yang bijak…  😉

Kemeriahan kota Jakarta saat ini tampak di Pusat Perbelanjaan. Di Gandaria City ada pertunjukan akrobatik dari luar negeri. Bahkan ada adegan meluncur dari lantai tertinggi ke panggung di lobi… WAOW …

Tak seperti biasanya pula, Pondok Indah Mal memeriahkan ruang terbuka di lantai dasarnya dengan es…  iya, jadi bagi anak-anak bisa belajar Ice Skating disitu… wuih…  Serasa ada salju turun di tengah Mal nih… hehhe…   🙂   Paduan suara anak-anak terdengar dari lantai atas menggemakan suaranya.

Eits, di Senayan Plaza juga ada paduan suara anak-anak dan bahkan artis Ibukota akan bernyanyi pada jam yang ditentukan. Dekor bak salju juga nampak di sini.

Di Seberangnya, di Senayan City ada dekor natal yang cukup fancy, boneka Santa dan para rusanya… Sudut itu banyak mengundang perhatian pengunjung yang lewat untuk berfoto di depannya. Selain karena tampak elegan, juga karena boneka Santa bisa bergerak-gerak…hihi…

Yang pasti di Mal-mal tadi terlihat plang besar-besar SALE….  Sebagian barang Sale memang ada yang masih cukup mahal, tapi bagi yang fanatik pada beberapa brand, pastilah ini saat yang ditunggu-tunggu…  karena di hari lain, belum tentu SALE nya sebesar ini.

Well, then, happy shopping, happy window shopping, happy holiday!

Just ENJOY JAKARTA – a paradise for shopaholic…   😉

In Bali, they found love; Travel Guru Elizabeth Gilbert – Budget Travel

According to the author of EAT, PRAY, LOVE, in Bali, they found love.  Some people really believe the story and there are similar story to the book; so a far-aunty from USA insist that I must read the book.  I have the book alright, but I’m more excited to look forward to watch the movie.   🙂   What about you?

—–Talkandtravel——

Q&A: Travel Guru Elizabeth Gilbert – Budget Travel.

The author of Eat, Pray, Love, explains how to upgrade a run-of-the-mill trip into a life-changing journey.

By Nicholas DeRenzo, July/August 2010 issue

There are tourists, there are travelers, and then there’s Elizabeth Gilbert. The best-selling writer makes a nice living from turning simple vacations into transformative experiences. Now, with a new travelogue out, Committed, and an Eat, Pray, Love movie starring Julia Roberts on the way (opening August 13), Gilbert details how to get the most out of any trip—even if you’ve only got a week. The goal: to become part of a place rather than just pass through.

How do you break from the tourist mold andimmerse yourself in a destination?
Stay put. I’ve certainly done that exuberant, I-just-want-to-see-everything travel, where it’s two days in Bologna, two days in Milan. But those kinds of experiences never made it into Eat, Pray, Love, mostly because I never met anybody. The memories that really stick with me involve making friends. I did that in Rome, where I got to know people over the course of months and really became part of their lives. But you could just as easily spend your week’s vacation in one village. It’s amazing how quickly you can become integrated if you try.

Gilbert surrounded by souvenirs from her travels (Ban Baker/Redux) [enlarge photo]

So if you decide to stay put, how do you go about making friends?
In Rome, I just put up a sign in a local Internet café that said, “Native English speaker looking for native Italian speakers for conversational practice.” Not only did I receive free, really intensive Italian lessons, but I made four great friends who showed me the “real” Rome.

How do you document your trips?
When I’m traveling, I don’t take pictures of scenery; better photographers than me have shot plenty, and you can find that stuff anywhere. I only take pictures of the people I become friends with. Also, I never sit down to write anything unless I have one person in mind to whom I am telling the story. It helps focus the piece. I wrote Committed to my novelist friend Ann Patchett.

Is it possible to find an exotic escape without flying halfway around the world?
Sure. I’ve recently become a huge fan of Atlantic City. Step a block from the boardwalk and there are all of these incredible restaurants and stores run by the immigrants who staff the city. My husband and I live about two hours away, and we visit once a month to buy spices and goat meat from this Pakistani guy. When you’re in his shop, you sort of think to yourself, What country am I in? But you’re right behind the Trump Taj Mahal.

And what if you want to go farther for longer?
I went down to Chile for my cousin’s wedding last year. In the airport, I struck up a conversation with a couple from Vermont. They were living in Santiago for six months before setting out for the rest of South America. They were teachers with really lousy salaries, but they had been saving money for 10 years. People say they can’t afford to travel. But if you circle a date on your calendar and make that your single, greatest priority, I guarantee you that you can.

THE GILBERT GLOSSARY

If eat equals Rome, pray equals India, and love equals Bali, what does drink mean? Or explore?drink vb
Ireland
“I have really happy memories of what feels like entire weeks spent in Irish pubs.”

save vb
Southeast Asia
“My husband and I lived on $15 to $20 a day for the entire 10 months that we were traveling there.”

play vb
Southern France
“For me, play is overeating, drinking a lot in the middle of the day, wandering through olive groves, and sampling amazing food covered in truffles—I consider that recreational!”

explore vb
Africa
“Not just for me, but for centuries of Europeans. And it’s still underexplored in a lot of ways—and misunderstood.”

Note: This story was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.